Hanging to get out and ride, go away flu :)

After coming back from our European holiday very motivated, I decided to do a couple of things to my bikes to get them ready for riding.

The Cannondale you see here is a 1989 R300 I picked up (some say stole :) but I disagree) from a gent who had it advertised on ebay for $200. Couldn’t pass that up as my first decent roadie was a 1990 Cannondale 3.0series crit frame with Campy gear. I had some Shimano RSX shifters etc from another bike that was an insurance write off so the old girl has received an upgrade to sti shifters and 7 speed rear. The bike is in great condition for its age and with new tyres and cables she is waiting patiently, much like me. Check out the original store sticker on the top tube, pretty cool.

Now to my favourite pursuit, mountain biking :)

This is my latest incarnation and after 20+ years of mtb fun and madness I still love riding hardtails.

I have gone back to chromoly framing as I have loved the way it feels since the first bike I bought in 1990. Up until 2009/10 I was riding a carbon hardtail which was my training and racing bike and after it developed a crack and noises it was sadly time to put it to rest.

It will be awesome to get back to some regular training once this flu disappears and it will be nice o get to the same levels I was at hopefully, then the decision to race again OR not? Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :)

Happily married to Juanita and living in beautiful Queensland (Gold Coast) Australia. Been in the bike game for 20 years and love all things mechanical. Worked in wholesale and retail bicycle industry as sales, mechanic, manager etc. Mountain biker since 1990 and done long distance tri's, ultra marathons. Last racing was 2006 solo 12-24hr stuff. Never want to be a woulda, coulda, shoulda but never did type. I want to relax as an old man and be content in having taken some risks and done what I could when I could.

Sorry for the deception Rapunzel as I bought the bike in Australia but that was where it was originally purchased.

As for the ride qualities of chromoly, I find there are a few that I love. Yes the material is somewhat heavier than the light weight alloys and carbon fiber frames that are all the rage at present and in a hardtail there are very few aluminium frames I would ride due to it’s harshness and nasty trail feedback to the rider.

My memories of chromoly go back to my first good mtb which was a delight to ride, rigid forks and all back when I started in Feb 1990. Chromoly seems to feel “alive” when compared to other materials mostly used today. When I say “alive” I am referring to how the frame has a spring in it and yes it moves and flexes a lot but the ride seems to “flow” more on a steel bike. Chromoly really soaks up a lot of the harshness from mtbing and my main reason to switch back to it is I am not racing and prefer a nicer more relaxed ride, for now :) If I go back to racing then that would be on either of a carbon hardtail or a race specific dual suspension mtb.